Filling-replenishing loom



Mare 25 1924.

A. E. STAFFORD FILLING REPLENISHING LOOM Filed March 31, 1923 ATfoRA/EY an i.

TION, OF HOPEDALE,

::,.I". E. STAFFORD, OF HOPEDALE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO DRAPER COR- SACHU$, A CORPORATION OF NE.

EILLINQREPLENISHING LOUIE.

Application filed March 31, 1923. Serial No. 699,12ii.

To all whom-it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALFRED E. STAFFORD, a citizen of the United, fitates residing at Hopedale, in the county of Worcester and State of Massachusetts, have. invented an Improvement in Fillin R eplenishing Looms, of which the following description, in connectionwiththeaccompany'ing drawings, is a specification, like characters on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention relates to filling replenishing looms and more particularly to the shut tlefeeler of such looms. V

In looms of the automatic type wherein the filling in the shutter is replenished from time to time, it is necessary that the shuttle to bereplenished shall be tioned in the replenishing shuttle box to permit the proper transfer of the filling thereto. Should the shuttle be not properly boxed and the replenishing mechanism be operated, injury .or breakage of some parts would occur. To avoid this objectionable condition it is common to provide a shuttle feeler in looms of the replenishing tips, the function of which is to feel for the s uttle when the filling is to be changed, and

in case the shuttle it not properly boxed,

to suspend the operation of the replenishing mechanism.

It has been common heretofore to provide shuttle feelers of various forms, some of which have had a recessed shuttle-feeling end, and in some cases thread cutting mechanism. In such cases, when the shuttle feeler is moved rearwardly to shuttle feeling posi tion, and finds an impro erly boxed shut tle, the filling or weft eading from the shuttle to the cloth selvage is liable to be caught between the engaging portions of 'the shuttle feeler and the shuttle and consequently be broken or cut. Should this occur and the shuttle be icked without replenishment, filling would fail to be laid progerly inlthe shed and imperfect cloth woul resu t.

- One of the objects of the present invention, therefore, is to provide a shuttle feeler with a weft or filling displacer of such construction that when the shuttle feeler is moved rearwardly into shuttle feelin osition, the weft or .filling dis lacer'wl engage and displace or move t e weft or fillfrom its normal position and from between the engaging surfaces of the shuttle properly, posi operate, the sharp metallic end of the shuttle will rub along the adjacent surface of the shuttle feeler as the latter. moves to its rearward position. In such cases, also, in accordance with the present invention, the Weft or filling displacer will displace the weft or filling thread and cause it to ride about the curved contoured end portion of the shuttle out of the danger zone. This recurrin contact between the extreme end of the sfiuttle and the shuttle feeler eventually wears the shuttle feeler, so that it may no longer perform its shuttle feeling function properly, and a new feeler has to be substituted.

A further purpose of the present invention, therefore, is to provide a shuttle feeler with a shuttle feeling end portion which is detachably and adjustably secured to the body portion of the feeler, so that when the shuttle feeling end of the feeler. becomes unduly worn, it may be readilymepl by a new tip or end portion without-thesubstitution of the entire feeler.

The above features and other novel constructions and combinations of parts will be hereinafter described in connection with ig. 2 is an enlarged on view of the shuttle and the'shuttle ,engagin end of the shuttle feeler, showing the we or filling dis lacer as having li ted or displaced the or filling thread from between the engaging surfaces of the shuttle feeler and shuttle;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged perspective viewshowing more particularly the action of the weftor fillmg displacer as the feeler moves fully to its rearward position when the shuttle is properly boxed;

. Fig. 4: is a h il-showing by full are stance the loom is shown of the automatic Northrop type, wherein wound filling carriers or bobbins are held in a hopper and are transferred to the shuttle as occasion requlres.

The loom frame 1 may be of usual construction having extending upwardly from the end of the breast beam- 2 the filling replenishing staid 3 carrying the usual hopper for supporting the wound filling carriers or bobbins. The details of the replenishing mechanism and the means of rotatin the hopper fromtime to time to present a llin carrier for transfer are all well understoo and are consequently not herein shown and described, because the details thereof form no part of the present invention.

The lay 4 has the usual shuttle boxes, one at each side of the loom, only the filling replenishing shuttle box 5 being indicated in the present drawings.

In looms of the filling replenishing type, the shuttle feeler is moved from a front to a rear position when a change or replenishment of filling is called, and various forms'of mechanisms have been devised for this purpose which act to suspend the filling re lenishing operation should the shuttle eeler find an im roperly boxed shuttle inthe shuttle box. 11 the present instance of the in-. vention, the shuttle feeler 6 is mounted on a stud 7 projecting from the rearward extending portion 8 by a bracket 9 secured by bolts 10 to the loom frame, and is given its rearward movement when the filling is to be changed, from a train of mechanism actuated from the transverse shaft 11. The transverse shaft 11 is supported for roe-king movement in the bearings 12, one at each side of the loom, and secured to the transverse shaft 11 is the arm 13 the rearwardly extending portion 14 of which overlies a stud 15 proecting from the feeler 6. Mounted upon t e arm 14 is the yielding member 16 normally under the influence of a spring 17 tending to turn the arm 14 and transverse shaft 11 in a contra-clockwise direction. The yielding member 16 has a rearwardly extending finger 18 which underlies the stud or pin 15, the construction being such that on call for replenishment of filling, the arms 14 and. yielding member 16 act to yieldingly move the shuttle feeler to its rearward feeling sition.

.T e feeler 6 extends u wardly from its ivotal support 7 and at 1ts upper portion has adjustably secured thereto the shuttle engaging ortion 19. In the present instance of t e invention, the body portion of the shuttle feeler 6 is provided with a shoulder20, Fig. 3, against which rests the frontward end portion 21 of the shuttle en g'ing member 19 which is secured to the b0 y portion of the feeler bythe bolt 22, the construction being such that should the shuttle engaging end portion of the feeler become unduly worn, it may-be replaced by manipulation of the bolt 22 and a new end portion be substituted therefor without the necessity of disassembling the loom by the removal of the entire shuttle feeler. v

The end portion of the shuttle 23 tapers toward the end and has a rounded contour which terminates in the metal tip 24. When filling replenishment is called and the shuttle feeler moves to perform its shuttle feeling function the end portion 19 moves rearwardly, and if the shuttle is properl boxed, passes beyond the metal tip 24 of t e shuttle. In case the side face of the shuttle feeling portion 19 of the feeler rubs along the metal tip 24 of the shuttle as it moves to the position indicated in Fig. 3, the filling thread a is liable to be caught between the twosurfaces and be broken or cut. Similarly, should the shuttle be improperly boxed, or have rebounded, and not be in position for filling transfer,.the rear end portion of the feeler will engage the end of the shuttle and be arrested in its backward movement..

The normal position of the weft or filling is such that the thread is liable to be caught between the engaging surfaces of the shuttle and shuttle feeler and be cut or broken, so that on the following pick no filling will be laid in the shed. i

In accordance with the present invention, the shuttle engaging end rtion of the feeler is provided-with a we t or filling displacer 25, shown in the present instance as formed by the intersection of the relatively long, also inclined, surface 26, and the relatively shorter inclined surface 27, which intersect at 28 at a point above the longitudinal axis of the shuttle 23, when the latter is in the filling replenishing box.

When the shuttle feeler is. moved to its rearward feeling position, the weft or filling thread a is first engaged by the weft or filling displacer and, 1n the present instance, is

raised or lifted above the longitudinal axis of the shuttle. If, at such times, the shuttle is properly boxed, the weft or filling thread a will be carried upwardly over the rounded surfam of the end of the shuttle, as indicated in Fig. 3, and consequently be removed from danger of being cut or broken as the shuttle feeler moves to its full feeling position. If, on the other hand, the shuttle is improperly boxed, or has rebounded, as indicated in Figs. 1 and 2, the weft or fillin thread a will-again be engutggfd by the we or filling displacer, and li into the position indieatedin Fig. 2, so that as the intion 33, Fig.

wears? clined surface 26 meets the rounded surface of the shuttle at the portion 30, the weft or fillin thread will have been moved out of the finger zone and consequently not be cut 01' broken, so that on the following pick, filling will be laid in the shed.

It is sometimes desirable to laterally adjust the shuttle engagingend portion of the feeler and to this end the part 19 of the feeler, in the present instance, is provided with the ribs or projections 31 which are separated by .a space 32 and the bolt 22 passes between the two ribs or projections 31. As the result, the shuttle engaging portion 19 of the feeler may be adjusted lateral] with respect to the main body of the eeler by varying the height of the ribs or projections 31. This adjustabilit of the shuttle engaging portion of the eeler is indicated by dotted and full lines in Fig. 4, and as will be obvious, serves to enable the shuttle engaging end portion of the feeler to be oontlnued in use for some time, even after it becomes worn.

In some forms of shuttle feeler mechanisms heretofore devised, the feeler has been moved in an inclined path rearwardly towards the shuttle box and then returned in a reverse inclined path towards the front of the loom. A slotted guide has been used heretofore to direct the lateral movement of the shuttle feeler. In the present instance, however, the shuttle feeler moves in a path that is not inclined but extends directly fore and aft of the loom. Nevertheless, when an end of an improperly boxed shuttle is engaged by the feeler, the rounded inclined end portion of the engaged shuttle places side or lateral stress on the feeler and tends to deflect it laterally to the left,

in the present instance. In accordance with the present invention, therefore, the bracket.

9 is provided with a stationary brace por- 1, along which the body portion of the feeier moves, and by which the feeler is braced against lateral stress as the feeler is moved to its rearward feeling position.

What is claimed is:

1. In a filling replenishing loom, the combination of the lay and shuttle boxes, a shuttle feeler having a weft or fillin displacing end formed by two inclined sur aces of unequal length which provide a weft or fi1ling seat at their intersection which is above the longitudinal axis of the shuttle when the feeler is 'moved to shuttle-feeling position, that the weft or filling thread may be displaced to a position away from the engaging portions of shuttle and not be cut when the shuttle feeler moves to feeling position and encounters and the end portion of an improperly boxed shuttle.

2. In a filling replenishin bination of the lay and s uttle boxes, a shuttle feeler having a weft or fillin displacing end comprising two inclin surfaces of une ual length intersecting to form a notch which is above the longitudinal axis of the shuttle when the feeler is in feeling position, and means for moving the feeler to feeling position to upwardly displace the weft or filling from its normal position and rearwardly over the end of the shuttle that it may not be cut by en aging portions of the shuttle feeler and s uttle.

3. In a filling replenishing loom, the combination of the lay and shuttle-boxes, a shuttle feeler having its shuttle-feeling portion provided with a weft or filling displacer which moves the weft or filling over the rounded and tapering end of the shuttle away from the longitudinal axis thereof and from between the engaging portions of the shuttle feeler and shuttle that it may not be cut when the shuttle feeler moves to feeling position and engages an improperly boxed shuttle.

4. A shuttle feeler comprising a main body portion, a separate shuttle engaging end portion, means for detachably connecting the two portions, and two ribs in separated relation between the main' body portion and the shuttle engaging end portion which enable the shuttle engaging end portion of the shuttle feeler to be laterally adjusted.

5. A shuttle feeler having its shuttle engaging end formed with a weft or filling isplacer comprising a relatively long lower inclined surface and a relatively short upper inclined surface which constitutes a stop for limitin the upward displacement of the weft or filfing, the said lower inclined surface being constructed and arranged to engage an im roperly boxed shuttle below the junction 0 the upper and lower inclined surfaces.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

ALFRED E. STAFFORD.

loom, the comthe shuttle feeler and 

